I watched this from the get-go. The first season was solid, often quite tense, and generally serious with Smith being a bit scary. Then it went south and campy, and I discovered this even better show that was really serious and not silly. It was called "Star Trek." :) »3/02/15 7:49pm Yesterday 7:49pm

I never had a problem with Aquaman. He was cool. I had a Captain Action figure and had the Aquaman costume for him, as well as the Aqualad suit for Action Boy. Never felt the least bit ashamed. He was a badass in my mind, anyway. :) »2/24/15 9:44am 2/24/15 9:44am

I was never a fan of the "space squid" even in the comics, because it was a trope borrowed directly from the Outer Limits episode "The Architects of Fear" (which was given a nod in the comic), so I thought it was a brilliant change myself- just as I liked it in the movie when Rorschach went medieval on the child… »2/23/15 7:20pm 2/23/15 7:20pm

One of the most interesting and exhaustive books on Medieval law, punishment, and, naturally, torture/execution is published by the Criminal Justice Museum in Rothenburg, Germany; not only is it copiously illustrated via actual surviving documents and devices from their collection from the time period, but it gives… »2/21/15 10:52am 2/21/15 10:52am

The Japanese already did the hyper-sexualized loli PPGs with "Powerpuff Girls Z." It was as bad as you might expect, even though it had Cartoon Network as a collaborator. »2/19/15 10:06am 2/19/15 10:06am

Probably around 1978- I camped out in the Drexel University ultrasound research lab and spent hours on an old version of Lunar Lander on a giant Tektronix monitor, and then at the satellite site at Jefferson I spent hours on an old Digital workstation playing the ASCII version of Star Trek on a printing terminal… »2/19/15 9:59am 2/19/15 9:59am

For a long time, "hard" SF was associated with Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, both which have stood the test of time. As a kid, all the Irwin Allen shows were popular, but they all borrowed props and cheap effects from each other so often that I got really tired of seeing the same things and same footage all the… »2/18/15 10:14am 2/18/15 10:14am

"Rebels" seriously upped its game with this episode. It finally made the Empire something seriously evil with the simple act of pushing the Y7 rating by having the Inquisitor behead (implying rather than showing) two long-running "regular" characters as an example. Not only was Maketh Tua clearly about to puke, but… »2/16/15 12:59pm 2/16/15 12:59pm

This particular episode upped the game extremely well, and came very close to "pulling out all the stops" with freely smoking John, some unsettling subject matter, no fear about broaching some pretty gross stuff, and definitely cementing the feeling that if this WAS the last episode, it was going out with a bang and a… »2/16/15 12:50pm 2/16/15 12:50pm